There are few things so intimidating as staring at a blank screen. Really, it just makes me want to run away and hide, and possibly (ok, probably) eat old Girl Scout cookies in a corner somewhere. As Dorothy Parker said, though...
"I hate writing, but I love having written.So then. Let's do this. I suppose I shall introduce myself.
My name is Millie Kay, and I am 23 years old. Yes, you say, you could see that in the little About Me window, or Profile, or whatever it's called? Tsk! Be patient! Well, officially, I am Melinda K. D., and that's what all my formal documents/relatives call me. I am from Austin, TEXAS (Texas Texas yeeeehaw), of which I am inordinately proud, and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, of which I am inordinately ashamed, in 2009--an SB in Brain & Cognitive Sciences and a minor in Women & Gender Studies. (Basically, that's a Bachelor's in neuroscience with some behavior and linguistics thrown in for good measure, but way more pretentious, and yes, I am a card-carrying feminist.)
Some of you may be wondering how Melinda K. D. became Millie Kay D., while others have been to Texas and understand such things. When you travel in the direction of the sunset in this vast and lovely state, you will eventually cross the Pecos River. At this point, miraculously, you begin to thirst for beers instead of wine; you intuitively recognize the difference between a cow, a heifer, a bull, and a steer; you begin to pronounce diphthongs where you never before thought possible; and your name sprouts a second half. My darling father, for example, was known as Alfred Roberts D. until he got a job in a West Texas gas station, at which point he promptly became known as Freddie Bob.
Or, perhaps, the name change was to signify a cleansing of my body and soul, a rebirth of sorts... or perhaps I just like the way Millie sounds. I've lost track of my many, many names (Melinda, Mel, Millie, Millie Kay, and beau coups of variants of my last name, which I shan't share here, because as we all know the internet is full of crazies. Crazies that are, thankfully, restricted to blogs and not to Facebook, email, Twitter, or the 3,000 other places I have my full name spelled out in full...)
Ah. Well. Anyways. West Texas. So, after I survived/graduated from MIT, I fled back to the Great State of Texas. I was still fairly traumatized by the thought of School That Mattered To My Future, so I avoided applying to Texas A&M (or, as it is occasionally known, Valhalla) for grad school just then. My dad had some lovely stories of how pretty West Texas was/is, and had some fond memories of running around Alpine, Texas, while his teacher-parents completed Continuing Education hours at Sul Ross State University. So, we packed up the Ninja Wagon, came out to visit, and the rest was history.
Heh. Actually, the rest is basically why I figure I can entertain folks with a blog. I'm currently the illicit love-child of the Biology and Animal Science Departments (is there such a thing as a hate-child?), though my official SRSU transcript has listed me as seeking a degree from pretty much every department except Biology: a Masters in Education, an M. Ag. in Animal Science, a miscellaneous post-Baccalaureate student... The actual plan (OMG MOM I HAVE A PLAN) is to get a MS in Biology, though I still plan on taking the occasional non-Bio class that sounds interesting. Someday, either Vet School or Med School (which one I'm shooting for basically depends on whether my mom and her doctor friends, or my animal-loving friends, have the better stories that week) and then working in Forensic Pathology, or possibly in Medicinal Miraculous Maggots. Yes, maggots: bio-debridement therapy, biotherapy, biosurgery, maggot therapy, or nasty little buggers eating flesh; whatever you want to call it, it's basically the only thing I feel quasi-religious about. (OMG MAGGOTS WILL SAVE US ALL) Really, the main thing that I both want to do, and can see myself doing happily, is working in Academia somewhere, teaching and researching, and basically playing with stuff all day and then telling people how awesome it is. Yeah, that's basically how I'd define Science.
Well, then. There we go. Any questions?
-mkd
